This is a Hacker News -> Reddit/r/RealTesla post.
Good to see the “original” RealTesla getting such large attention. Over on the Reddit, there’s over 3000+ upvotes, while most of the discussion on Hacker News is supportive of the story.
While Hacker News has [flagged] the story (thereby removing it from the frontpage), it shows that even in the high-tech industry / San Francisco venture capitalism tech-discussion site, Elon Musk’s reputation has really nosedived this year.
Businesses should not be losing track of $50,000 Cashier’s checks.
That’s, for all practical purposes, the same error as losing a $50,000 briefcase full of cash. You don’t mess with Cashier checks unless you’re a competent business.
A million things could have happened to the check: burned in a fire, accidentally thrown away, stolen by an employee.
As long as it wasn’t a fraudulent check, the law considers it payment.
On a similar note, a landlord agency demanded second payment after an employee stole the rent money. The courts laughed them out.
Should not happen either way, I agree.
I would say $50k is $50k no matter its form, it deserves due care and attention just based on the dollar amount. A cashier’s check is an order to pay the seller by name, signed by the issuer’s bank. It’s way more secure than a briefcase full of cash and thus requires less of a duty of care than something as fungible and transferable as cash, just based on the foreseeability and likelyhood of harm.
The owner took possession without the paper title. I’m not sure how the transaction was set up, if there was a note issued or an escrow. I would think either way when the owner gets back from vacation and finds the title is not there waiting in the mailbox, that’s notice the transaction hasn’t closed, in addition to the emails and phone calls. From the seller’s perspective, of course it repo’d the car.
I wonder if Tesla’s contract specifies the method of notice.